New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage

Dear Colleagues,

Our energy landscape is changing. Local communities are increasingly taking active roles and emerging as new actors in the energy system. For example, some local energy initiatives own solar panels, wind turbines and energy storage system collectively, while others build renewable energy configurations, together with other energy system actors. Community energy and energy storage may enable effective energy system integration and get maximum benefits of local generation. Energy storage is one of the key issues of the energy transition and local energy communities are important drivers behind the transformation towards a more sustainable energy system, particularly when it comes to decentralized energy systems. This may lead to more flexible and resilient energy supply systems, and therefore, can play an important role in achieving renewable energy and climate policy objectives.

New and innovative socio-technological energy storage configurations are emerging at local and regional levels. Energy storage technologies are going through a great deal of public discourse, networking and experimentation. The decreasing cost of energy storage and the increasing demand for local flexibility is opening up new possibilities for energy storage systems deployment at the local level. In this context, energy storage can help to better integrate the heat and electricity system at the local level and can positively contribute towards energy transitions while accommodating the needs and expectations of citizens and local communities. Yet, there are technological and social challenges of integrating energy storage in the largely centralized present energy system, which demands for socio-technical innovation. More attention is required in the societal dimensions of energy storage technology and the technological aspects of social innovation around energy storage technologies.

This Special Issue is being organized within the framework of the International Conference New Pathways for Community Energy and Storage organized by the Universities of Groningen and Twente on 6 and 7 of June 2019 in Groningen, the Netherlands.

This Special Issue aims to address important questions related to energy transitions and the role of community energy and storage therein. We invite submission from researchers and practitioners to provide new stimulating insights to continue efforts for promising pathways, in theory and practice, regarding technological and social aspects of energy transition.

In line with the key themes of the international conference, we accept submission on following key topics: 

Transformative power of community energy

Citizens' engagement in community energy

Community energy storage and flexibility

New pathways for community energy innovation in practice

Local energy innovation

Changing roles and responsibilities

New pathways for local energy storage in practice

Responsible innovation in community energy

Community energy in Europe

Games as means for energy communication and involvement

New business models for community energy and storage

Community energy and low-carbon transition

Community energy storage: opportunities, challenges and perspectives

Developing country perspective on community energy

Aligning institutions and technology in community energy systems

Renewable energy communities, consumer (co-)ownership and energy sharing

Regulatory and institutional aspects of community energy and storage

Dr. Henny J. van der Windt
Dr. Ellen van Oost
Dr. Binod Koirala
Dr. Esther van der Waal
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.